Sir Tom Finney

Sir Tom Finney is not your stereotypical footballer. Preston born and bred, at 86 years old, this local football hero still shows great loyalty to his old football club, Preston North End.

A contrast to many of the footballers today, this quietly spoken, down to earth and modest man, played football for the love of the sport and for Preston itself. The fame and possibility of money and material items did not interest him.

He proved this in 1952 when the Italian club, Palermo, made him an offer of £10,000 along with a villa and a car. Showing no interest at all, Finney signed with Preston North End once again.

He explained: “I always wanted to play with Preston North End from being a boy. I achieved my ambition at a very early age and never had any real reason to leave them.”

Sir Tom was born in Preston, April 5, 1922, on a street next to Deepdale Stadium. He always had a passion for football and looked up to famous players at the time such as Alex James.

“I watched him at a very early age and thought I’d model myself on him,” Sir Tom remembers.

Finney always had great support from his family, particularly his father and brother, John. But when first approached by Preston North End, aged 14, he had to say no.

Sir Tom said: “My father insisted on me having an apprenticeship rather than joining Preston North End as a Professional.” This lead to the nickname of ‘the Preston Plumber’.

The Second World War delayed the start of Finney’s career. It wasn’t until August 31, 1946, that the dream of playing for Preston North End came true for Finney.

Aged 24, his first match was a success with Finney scoring the winning goal in a 3-2 victory against Leeds.

He went on to score 210 goals in 473 games. He also played for England 76 times, scoring a total of 30 goals. Modest as ever, Sir Tom said: “I thought it was a great honour to play for your country.”

When Finney got his first England cap his team mate, Sir Stanley Matthews, originally had Finney’s position on the right wing. On Finney’s arrival, he was moved to centre forward.

There was instant talk of a rivalry between Sir Stanley Matthews and Sir Tom, but Finney stated: “I think Sir Stanley Matthews was the greatest player I ever saw in English Football.

“He was an accomplished professional when I got my first England cap. I always got on very well with him and found him an extremely nice fellow and a very, very helpful person.”

The first time they played together they destroyed Portugal’s defences with a win of 10-0, both players scoring. In 1948 they also beat the World Champions, Italy, 4-0 with Finney scoring twice.

Performances such as this won Finney the Footballer of the Year award, once in 1954 and again in 1959.

But in 1960, with injuries worsening, Sir Tom decided to hang up his boots at the age of 38.

After retirement Finney went back to where he left off, his trade as a plumber. He also did even more for Preston by serving as a magistrate for over 20 years and helping with local causes, such as supporting stabbed teenager, Jessica Knight, in the ‘Jessica Fund’.

Preston have not over looked anything that Finney has done for them. In 1998 he was knighted in the New Year’s Honours list, Finney said: “I always felt that it was a great honour for football and myself.”

He’s also been inducted into the Footballers Hall of Fame, given the Key to Preston, and in 2004 the Splash was unveiled. This £200,000 statue stands in front the National Football museum.

It was inspired by the 1956 Sports Photograph of the Year which featured Finney beating two defenders at a waterlogged Stamford Bridge when he played against Chelsea.

Sir Tom said: “I’m very honoured about it and I think that when the photograph was taken that it brought an awful lot of credit to me and to football generally.”

With plans to create a ‘Sir Tom Finney Day’ in March 2009 there seems no end to the respect and honour that Preston want to give Sir Tom.

And here he is today, as Club President, just as involved as ever. Only now he sits in an office, smartly dressed in a suit, with his little white terrier curled up at his feet.